The Air Could Give You a Life-Threatening Pregnancy Disorder, Seriously

Some of us get pregnant and we think everything is going to be beautiful and natural and wonderful and perhaps we'll even birth in a beautiful field while butterflies flutter overhead. And it is that lovely for some, and I do wish it was that easy for all. But it's not. Complications are rare (we hope) but if they do arise we need to do something about them ... and it's why I praise modern medicine. It saved my life because I had HELLP syndrome, the evil cousin of preeclampsia, both of which can be life-threatening and terribly frightening.

More needs to be done on why women get preeclampsia because a few women I know, myself included, didn't fit the model of why pregnant moms get it. But a new study could shed some light on the issue and it's the air. Yes, the air we breathe can increase your risk of getting a potentially life-threatening pregnancy condition.

Air pollution, smog, those very hot and humid days when the weatherman issues a high ozone alert -- those are the types of things that are now believed to potentially cause a woman to have her body essentially start to reject her pregnancy. This is terrifying because it's one of those things that is hard to prevent especially if you live in a big city.

I'd still like to know more about this supposed link. I live in NYC -- did my surroundings contribute to my sickness? What is the statistic of women who live in large cities who get preeclampsia? Do we need to move out to the cleaner air in the mountains surrounded by trees that hopefully do some purifying to the air in order to have healthier pregnancies? I do think that would probably help. It also shows the severity of what we are doing to this earth ... the air is poisoning us and our unborn. More needs to be done on both fronts -- Mother Earth and mother.

Are you worried about the air we breathe and how it can affect pregnancy? Did you get preeclampsia? Did you have any risk factors?